Introducing Gyrostarr

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The maker of The Conduit gives us the scoop on its first WiiWare game – a classic-style shooter with cutting-edge graphics.

By Matt Casamassina

Last week, IGN brought you the exclusive first look at High Voltage Software's Wii-only first-person shooter, The Conduit. At the same time, we gave you a glimpse into the company's commendable Wii-centric approach – not only has it developed a highly specific 3D engine meant to capitalize on the strengths of Nintendo's console, but it hopes to create rich content-filled software for traditional gamers – yes, on Wii. We're going to have more on The Conduit, including first gameplay footage, in the near future, but it is by no means the only Wii project that High Voltage is working on.

Introducing Gyrostarr, the company's first WiiWare game. It's a four-player compatible "sci-fi shooter" designed from the ground up for Nintendo's download service and as you'll see in our exclusive video trailer below, it already looks better than many retail Wii titles. High Voltage's 3D engine procedurally generates the space track that you'll whiz through in your spaceship – or in other words, the fractal-like geometry and particle effects you see whirring around in the background are being created dynamically. The result is that the title includes 50 levels of space track in a file size smaller than 40 megabytes.

According to High Voltage, "Gyrostarr challenges you and up to three other players to fly through a twisting, turning techno-plasma canal in space, collecting energy to penetrate an alien portal and warp to the next conduit. Without that energy, your space vessels will smash head-first into the unforgiving anti-void." Naturally, each track is guarded by different enemy spacecraft, all of them out to gun you down and "feast on your collected energy."

A variety of weapons and power-ups aid your on your frantic shooter-filled quest to the next portal. There's the triple-shot, the tesla-shot, lighting-short, and charged shot, for starters. Meanwhile, you can gain defensive bonuses, too, such as the indestructible shield and a power-up that temporarily slows enemies down. In addition to everything else, ships come armed with the grapple gun, a gadget that "… allows players to grab and retrieve pickups from the track ahead of them, giving them weapons quicker or allowing them to snare one while moving to the side to grab a second." Interestingly, all of the pick-ups can be targeted, shot, and bounced to the side of the track or pushed further backward, a mechanic designed to allow "players in the back of the pack a chance to make lifer miserable for those in the front."

Some of the electronica music selections from the game are available for download below:

We noted that the game is four-player compatible, all the action unfolding on the same screen. What we haven't mentioned yet is that you can control your ship any way you like using the Wii remote or the Wii remote and nunchuk. If you prefer motion controls, there's waggle and if not, you can go the more traditional route – analog stick and good-old-fashioned button presses. The multiplayer mode can be competitive or cooperative depending on the actions you make.

"When playing together, players need to cooperate if they want to successfully complete the level, but that doesn't mean they can't try to double-cross each other to get choice weapons, increase their score, or just irritate," notes High Voltage. "The ship positions are staggered down the track, but when one player collects a pickup, his ship moves to the back of the pack, ensuring that everyone has a chance to be in the lead and grab the next one." We imagine that the aforementioned grapple gun will play an integral role in irritating friends during multiplayer matches.

As with any shooter, the accumulation of points is just as important as playing through the selection of levels and High Voltage has included a multiplier system based on skill. Points multiply and accumulate when you avoid enemy fire (in addition to shooting down foes, obviously), and there are bonuses which will be awarded when you accomplish "intra-level achievements."

Gyrostarr seems to run in both 480p and 16:9 widescreen modes and features an electronica-influenced soundtrack that is well matched to the on-screen action. The WiiWare launch title will cost 700 Wii Points ($7) -- a good bargain. With games like this, LostWinds and World of Goo set to debut with or shortly thereafter the launch of WiiWare in America, we couldn't be more excited about the forthcoming service.